Rocco
Vesper was born in Camden NJ on May 9, 1910 to Dominico and Josefina Vesper, one of
at least seven children. His mother died shortly before the 1930 Census
was taken. The Vesper family resided 326 Mickle
Street, two doors away from the famous poet Walt Whitman's
home at 330 Mickle, when both the 1920 and 1930 Census were enumerated..

During
the 1930s Rocco Vesper pursued a variety of vocations. He managed
professional boxers for a time. By 1933 he was the proprietor
of a taproom known as Vesper's Cafe, at 15 South 4th
Street. In 1933, with Prohibition still in force, this establishment
operated under a soft drink license. By the summer of 1936, Rocco's
father, Dominico Vesper had taken over the bar. He sold it to Louis
Zalewski in 1947. In November of that year, the liquor license was sold
and transferred to Samuel Pearl, who opened a liquor store at 31 Mt.
Ephraim Avenue which remained in business until around 1990.

In
May of 1942, Rocco Vesper and his childhood friend John Creato were
drafted into the armed forces. Dominico Vesper operated the bar while
Rocco Vesper served his country.
Rocco Vesper returned after the war, as did John Creato. The Creato
family also got into the bar business, operating Creato's
Cafe at South 5th and Mickle Streets in the late 1940s. John Creato
managed the bar, and Rocco Vesper would tend bar here as
well.

Dominico
Vesper eventually moved to Pennsauken, New Jersey. He passed away on
November 13, 1967. By 1959 Rocco
Vesper had also moved to Pennsauken, where he lived out his days,
passing away in August of 1978.